According to the study "The Effect of Power Plants on Local Housing Values and Rents" (May 2010) by Lucas Davis: "Compared to neighborhoods with similar housing and demographic characteristics, neighborhoods within two miles of plants experienced 3-7 percent decreases in housing values and rents with some evidence of larger decreases within one mile and for large capacity plants. In addition, there is evidence of taste-based sorting with neighborhoods near plants associated with modest but statistically significant decreases in mean household income, educational attainment, and the proportion of homes that is owner occupied."[1]

These 126 plants have a total capacity of 58,945 MW - 17.5% of the total U.S. coal power capacity. A total of 6.11 million people live within 3 miles of these 126 plants. These 6.11 million people have an average per capita income of $18,587 - 14% lower than the U.S. average - and 43.7% of them are people of color.

A total of 8.1 million Americans live within three miles of a coal power plant. Those 8.1 million people have an average per capita income of $18,594 – significantly lower than the U.S. average of $21,587. Out of those 8.1 million people, 36.3%, or 2.94 million, are people of color, who make up only 29.2% of the U.S. population as a whole.

African-Americans are hospitalized for asthma at three times the rate of whites, and the death rate from asthma is 172% higher for African-Americans than for whites. Asthma is closely linked to burning coal: coal power plants produce 74% of all sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution, 18% of nitrogen oxide (NOX) pollution, and 85% of direct particulate matter 2.5 emissions in the United States, which all exacerbate asthma.

The report went on to use an algorithm combining levels of SO2 and NOX emissions together with demographic factors in order to calculate an environmental justice score for the 431 coal-fired power plants in the U.S., and found that:

Ninety plants have a significantly disproportionate impact on people of color and low-income people, with 4.7 million people living within 3 miles of the 90 plants, with an average per capita income of $17,600 (25% lower than state average), and over half (52.5%) people of color. Ten were in Illinois, eight in Indiana, seven in Michigan, sex in Virginia, and five in South Carolina. The report notes that shutting down the 90 worst ranking plants would reduce U.S. power production by only 9.2%, but would cut back the number of Americans living within three miles of a coal plant by well over half (58.4%).

Twelve plants were ranked the top environmental justice offenders, producing a total of 48,582 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity in 2005 — only 1.2% of total U.S. electricity production, yet affecting a total of 1.78 million Americans who live within 3 miles of one of the 12 plants, with an average per capita income of $14,626 (compared with the U.S. average of $21,587), and 76.3% people of color. The plants were: